


Title in Progress

by Catastrokey (orphan_account)



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Dashed Hope, Gen, Hope?, I'm so sorry I keep doing this, The Void
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 08:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14351520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Catastrokey
Summary: The first night of “The Ben Show”, title in progress, was an unmitigated disaster and it hadn’t even finished yet.





	Title in Progress

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Accal1a](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/gifts).



> I'm so sorry I keep doing this, but once again, I speak this into the world in hopes that it does not become canon. Part 2..... might happen.

The first night of “The Ben Show”, title in progress, was an unmitigated disaster and it hadn’t even finished yet. At barely 3:30, a mere hour and a half into the timeslot, Ben was floundering so bad he’d gotten concerned texts from nearly everyone he knew. Chet had hardly waited 15 minutes before sliding back into the booth to run interference.

Months he’d spent trying to convince his best friend to stay in this town with people that loved him and here he was, with nothing to show for it. Now he had to carry the show, their show, without Sammy and the whole thing just felt wrong.

Benjamin Arnold was not used to giving up. He could fail to solve a problem time and again, but he would get right back up to try something else until it bent to his will. Except Sammy wasn’t a problem, he was a person, Ben’s best fucking friend, and he hadn’t acknowledged any of Ben’s arguments for why he should stay in King Falls.

Sammy Stevens had finished his last night with the station and gone radio silent. When Ben drove by his place, the lights had been off and his car was gone and every single one of the definitely not excessive number of calls he had made to Sammy’s cellphone had been unanswered. His best friend had made his escape from King Falls and all the people in it.

At the moment, he was attempting to dump Cynthia even as it was entertaining to listen to Chet rile her up by being himself. She kept poking at him and the odd implication that she spied on him at the gym only for Chet to begin talking about cougars. The back and forth was a good distraction if nothing else. Ben was both enjoying it and praying it would end.

“Well, at least there’s only going to be sweet little Benny on the show after this. Thank _God_ for that.”

“Don’t you dare.”

Ben wasn’t aware he’d said anything until after it snapped it’s way out of his mouth in a quick acidic barb. Not that he regretted it, not even the tone. Sammy may have left them but he wasn’t going to tolerate anyone saying shit about his best friend.

“I don’t know why you’re defending that low life. He abandoned you! Some ‘best friend’ he turned out to be. Don’t worry Ben, if you need comforting, I’m always here to help.”

Bile crawled it’s way up his throat. This woman was trying to use his best friend leaving to her own gains, it was revolting. Ben knew that sometimes people were unsavory and manipulative, but it hadn’t been quite so startlingly clear since Reverend Hawthorne tried to use Emily’s disappearance to get people to come to his church so he could milk them for money.

“Sammy didn’t abandon me. He lost his fiancé, the love of his life, to this town. Even if I tried to get him to stay…. I can’t really blame him for wanting to leave the town that stole that from him. I can talk all I want about losing Emily, but I barely knew her. We weren’t even dating. Yes, I lost her to the rainbow lights, but Sammy lost the man he was going to marry. He’d already built a life with him. A life he completely dropped to come here and look for Jack. I can’t even imagine that or what I would do when that pain got too unbearable. Sammy left-”

He took a deep breath. What he was about to say couldn’t be taken back, but maybe it needed to be said.

“Sammy left to finally take care of himself. If he couldn’t do this anymore- if he couldn’t keep slogging through the pain with no end in sight, then I’m glad he finally decided to do what was best for him. Even if that turns out to be leaving King Falls.”

And there it was, the truth that hurt more than a thousand pinpricks because he really couldn’t blame Sammy for leaving, could he? Be mad at him for not accepting help, sure. He could be peeved at his stubborn ass of a best friend forever for that, but 10 months had been unbearable and the mere thought of that pain stretching out without hope was unthinkable.

He was surprised Sammy hadn’t left sooner.

Sammy spent three years holding that pain inside him and searching for Jack with no help, no leads, no hope. It was enough to force anyone into drastic measures, really. Ben was just thankful that Sammy’s drastic measure was leaving King Falls.

Cynthia huffed over the line and Ben got the feeling she was unswayed but also unwilling to fight him on the matter. Whether that was human decency or her weird lust-crush holding her back, he couldn’t be sure of.

Personally, he didn’t care so long as she stopped trash talking his best friend on air.

Chet took that opportunity to slide into the conversation with a concerned glance Ben’s way. He obviously hadn’t been expecting that confession. Ben was “the little rage engine that could” after all, pretty much everyone had expected him to channel his feelings through anger. But he couldn’t be mad at Sammy for taking care of himself, even if he thought the man was going about it the wrong way.

“Well, would you look at that, I think the line is breaking up. Bye, Cynthia.”

“It’s Mrs. Hig-”

Her protest was cut off with a satisfying click.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen we have another 8 minutes until Benny-cat here gives us our next topic so why don’t we try another call, maybe this one will have better reception.”

Ben could do this, it was his job. He did this every night. So he chimed in.

“And don’t forget to tweet us @KingFallsAM or….”

Or maybe not.

“Or @KingFallsChet to get your daily dose of vitamin C."

ew. Ew. EW. _EW_.

That certainly snapped Ben out of his sad musings. The salacious tone alone was enough to make Ben’s skin fucking crawl and he wasn’t even the one being propositioned.

“Aw god, Chet no.”

The grin on Chet’s face would strongly indicate he had been trying to distract Ben with that comment. Well, it had certainly worked.

“Chet, yes.”

“OOooookay. Quickly moving on, lucky line 1, you’re up!”

Pressing the button for line one, he could still see Chet across the desk looking quite proud of himself. He also saw him try to subtly hide a yawn and for all that Chet could make his skin crawl on occasion, he couldn’t help but be thankful the man had stayed to make sure he was okay.

“Hey, Ben.”

Ben could almost feel his chest lighten at the sound of Emily’s voice, even through the dreary gloom of the night.

She had a way of doing that, making a heavy situation seem a little less weighted. After all, if Emily Potter was on your side, there was nothing you couldn’t fix. She was level-headed and smart as all get out, there was no question she would complete anything she wanted to get done.

Right now, that seemed to be ‘Cheer Ben Arnold Up’ and no one doubted that she would succeed.

“Emily, it’s ah…. It’s good to hear from you.”

“Yeah, Ben. I just wanted to check on you. I know it can’t be easy with Sammy…”

The bleak silence said a lot. It echoed around the room like an accusation. He couldn’t get Sammy to stay, he’d lost his best friend because he wasn’t enough.

“Look, Ben. We’ll find Jack. You have your notebook and we’re all going to help. So you don’t have to worry. Sammy will come back because we’ll give him a reason to come back.”

A reason to come back.

If they got Jack back, they would get Sammy back too. There would be nothing pushing him out of King Falls. No ghosts of loves lost, just friends ready and willing to support them as they got back on their feet.

If they got Jack back…

“You’re right.”

The sudden hope that swelled in his chest took him by surprise. A plan. Emily Potter was offering him a plan like an angel descending from heaven armed with hope and sparks of a brighter future.

“If we get Jack back, Sammy will have hope again. Sammy can come back. We just have to get Jack back. Oh my god, Emily you are a genius.”

Chet seemed to perk up as Ben got louder, Ben’s own excitement waking him up a little more. He must be exhausted, to have not made a passing comment at Emily.

He should probably convince the man to go home.

After all, Ben didn’t need someone to help him out of his moping anymore. They had a plan.

The things Benjamin Noah Arnold could do with a plan.

“Why thank you, Ben. Glad to know I could help.”

Even Emily seemed more chipper, the night seemed so much brighter, the light of hope shining across Ben’s worldview.

Ben used the next break to get his notebook out of his bag and convince Chet to go get some sleep, even if it was just on the sofa in his office. He had people to call and plans to make, research to do. He could use his position as a radio host to try and convince people to talk to him. It would be great. Sammy could come back and be happy here, in King Falls.

At 4:33 on the dot, the hotline rings. No one had been scheduled and Ben wasn’t looking forward to whatever shenanigans were about to go down, but he picked up the phone anyway.

Nothing could have prepared him for who was on the other line.

“Ben?”

Ben felt a weight lift from his chest at the sound of his best friend’s voice.

“Sammy!? Jack in the Box Jesus! You can’t leave town and stop answering your phone at the same time! I was worried.”

“Ben, I… Jesus, I know but I can’t. This is important. I need to…”

Sammy sounded panicky, a high pitch of stress straining under his usually smooth tone. There was something under that though that Ben couldn’t place. It was low and grumbly, ominous.

The wind picked up.

“Are you outside? Sammy, it’s almost 4 in the morning, you shouldn’t be outside. Did your car break down or something? Hold on, I’ll call Troy and he’ll be right there to-”

“Ben, I need to tell you. I have to tell you-”

Ben scrambled for his cell phone, attempting to call Troy, Emily, Ron, _anyone_ who could help his best friend get to safety.

The sound of crackling started to pick up on the other end of the line.

“I’ll text Troy right now, he’ll be there as fast as he can. Hell, I’ll throw on a best of, just tell me where you are and I’ll-”

“BEN!”

The voice was mostly Sammy, but the strange undertone was morphing, melting almost, into a frighteningly familiar lilt. The soggy mouthed voice of the Shadowmaker was overtaking Sammy’s words.

“I don’t have much time. You know where I am, please-”

“No. No no no no no Sammy! Please don’t do this.”

Sammy couldn’t be that stupid. He just couldn’t. He was supposed to go back to the city and be safe if nothing else. He was supposed to go back and be safe while Ben got his best friend’s heart back from the void. Never in a million years had he thought that Sammy’s plan hadn’t been to go to the city at all.

Sure, he hadn’t said he was going back…. And Lily had said he didn’t have anything to go back to… and Sammy had said he

Oh god, oh god, this had been his plan all along.

“He’ll be in the car. Please-” for just a moment, it was more Sammy than Shadow- “please, take care of him.”

“Sammy you can’t do this to me. I swear to god. Hold on, I’ll be right there.”

“I didn’t want you to know if things went really wrong. I didn’t want you to have to know-”

The slip and slide between Sammy and the shadowmaker was jarring to listen to. Like the two were fighting to get some message across.

“Sammy you have to hang on-”

Why couldn’t he take the damn hotline with him? He needed to go to Sammy but he couldn’t hang up on him. He had to be on the line.

“Ben, I can’t- I- It let him go. It let him go and all it wanted in return was me. I couldn’t- I couldn’t exactly say no to that.”

His phone lit up with a text from Troy that he was already headed towards Perdition Woods.

He wouldn’t make it in time.

“Sammy, you bastard. You were supposed to be safe.”

The laugh was awful, hardly Sammy at all. Too deep, too dark.

“Sammy isn’t going to be safe again, Ben Arnold.”

No.

_No._

NO.

“ **Let him go**.”

He was met with nothing but clattering laughter that could shake bones.

“I have him now. Come get him back.”

When Troy got there exactly 8 minutes too late, he would find Sammy’s car on, all the doors open, with Jack Wright passed out in the back seat. In the studio, Ben continued to cry.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[PODFIC] Title in Progress](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14763792) by [Accal1a](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/pseuds/Accal1a)




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